And Matt_SE is partly right….the other part is when you try to stay awake while they play NINETY scoreless minutes, and then they settle it with a shootout….which your team loses when the ball hits the upper bar of the goal and bounces in.

Really?

No Thank You.

lee

A) I love Peer Gynt, and “In the Hall of the Mountain King” is a fav; B) The overly dramatic soccer injuries are strategic–they get a TOTAL of six substitutions per match–which have to be approved by the referee and there are NO time outs. Faking a horrible injury is one the ways they can “stop the clock” in a manner of speaking, get a rest, give someone a chance to run to the coach and get some coaching, etc. It’s not really about being drama queens.

I did enjoy the video, though.

jj

As Lee points out there is a purpose to a lot of it. These guys go pretty much flat-out through the game, and even what look like minor collisions can have tough results. This tournament has featured a plethora of broken bones, as all tournaments do. Television doesn’t do it justice, either. You have to be near the field to realize how hard these guys are going, and how stretched to capacity every muscle is. When you’re at full effort and somebody sticks a boot into your shin (none of these guys wear pads) both collisions – with the boot and then with the ground – have the capacity to hurt. Kind of like Grand Prix races: if your only experience is watching on TV you really have no idea what’s going on, how fast they’re going and how delicate their control is. TV does not do speed well, it doesn’t translate. You have to be there at least once and watch them flash by you from fairly close up. It’ll adjust your perspective quick. The Brazilian Neymar looked like he got whapped in the back, no big deal, get up and go on. It was only when they got him to the hospital that they were able to start counting broken vertebrae. Cut them a little slack, it’s tougher than it looks on the tube, and, unlike American football, it’s all done wearing shorts and a t-shirt..

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